The Blink smartwatch takes the fight to Google and Pebble with a custom OS

Bangalore, India-based hardware firm Witworks is getting into the wearables business with its all-new Blink smartwatch.

The unisex timepiece is beautifully designed, with an elegant 43mm 316L stainless steel case that surrounds a 1.39-inch 400×400 pixel AMOLED display. The touchscreen is protected by Gorilla Glass 3 and is paired with a built-in speaker for interacting with the watch.

Under the hood, you’ll find a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB RAM and a 300mAh battery that should allow for up to two days of use on a single charge.

The Blink is powered by Witworks’ Android-based Marvin OS, which the company says is a ‘watch-first’ platform that’s designed to offer a simple and fluid user experience based on a circular interface design. It pairs with Android and iOS devices to deliver notifications and sync with your calendar and email.

Marvin offers a Timeline that shows all your events, reminders and alarms on a single screen; it also surfaces notifications and lets you act on them.

The watch also supports additional apps for third-party services including Uber and Ola for ride-sharing. Witworks says it’s building a bunch more in-house for other categories like local restaurant and hotel discovery.

Blink also tracks your fitness activity (exercise duration, steps and calories) with a 9-axis motion sensor for highly accurate monitoring. It also includes 8GB of onboard storage so you can carry a sizeable music collection to power your workout, while leaving your phone behind.

Witworks believes that the watch is just the first step in its journey towards creating an ecosystem of connected products. While Marvin is designed for smartwatches, the company hopes to eventually extend its functionality to support IoT devices that can all be controlled from a single hub or wearable.

It’ll be interesting to see if Witworks can win over Indian consumers with its first wearable. I got a brief demo of the device and it certainly seemed desirable, with commendable build quality and an appealing interface. However, it’ll have to face stiff competition from the likes of the Apple Watch Series 2, myriad Android Wear devices like the Moto 360, Samsung’s Gear S3 and the upcoming Pebble 2 range.

The watch will initially be available in India through Amazon at a starting price of Rs. 12,999 ($195); Witworks is also taking pre-orders on the Blink site. You can choose between stainless steel silver and black finishes, as well as a range of silicon and leather straps and steel bracelets; the all-black steel option is the priciest at Rs. 15,999.